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What does Dean Fearing think makes a successful restaurant?

Personality, look, quality of the food, creativity, definitely personality — it has a lot to do with all of those. It’s people: When they think of a restaurant, they want to go there for a certain aspect, and you and I might want to go to a certain restaurant because we feel like having that certain dish. Now, in the world we live in, people are cooking less at home and eating more and more out.

I think there’s a funny saying, that when I call my boys to dinner, they get their shoes on. There’s a lot to say to that. I cook at home when I’m off, but we also go out to eat because we all enjoy that. There’s an enjoyment to going out to eat. It’s entertainment. It’s a time for all of us to truly sit around and catch up or talk about things we need to talk about. When I cook at home, I’m cooking, cooking, cooking, then we sit down and we eat. It’s not the same as walking into a restaurant and sitting down and starting a conversation while the meal is coming and being served.